Search and rescue teams recovered the body of one of 20 people missing after a passenger ferry capsized off northern Cyprus, officials said on Wednesday, bringing the death toll to at least nine.
The TRNC is served by regular air and sea links to Turkey. bur-hmw-fo/rlp This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text. The ferry carrying 267 people sank on Sunday shortly after leaving Kyrenia port on the northern shore of the divided island. Police detained the ferry’s captain and 15 others, nine of whom appeared in court in Kyrenia on Monday charged with negligent homicide, with another seven people also facing court proceedings. When it was first registered 25 years ago, the ferry went under the name IrisJet. The IrisJet sailed under a Spanish flag between 2011 and 2017, according to International Maritime Organization data seen by AFP. But data from the Equasis global merchant shipping database showed the IrisJet flying a Spanish flag up to 2011 after which there was a six-year gap until 2017 when it re-emerged under a Greek flag. Since 2024, it has flown a Cyprus flag and operated under the name FiloJet. Cyprus has been split since 1974, when Turkey invaded and occupied the northern third of the island in response to an Athens-engineered Greek Cypriot coup seeking unification with Greece. Today the island comprises the breakaway republic, which declared independence in 1983 but is only recognised by Turkey, and the EU member Republic of Cyprus in the south.
Eight of the dead were Turkish, according to officials from the self-proclaimed Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus an entity recognised only by Ankara. In court, the captain said the front of the vessel had been smashed open by the force of the waves, Turkey’s Anadolu news agency said.
Ustel did not say where the body had been found. Two more of the dead were reportedly buried in the Turkish port city of Mersin as northern Cyprus observed a third day of national mourning. – From IrisJet to FiloJet – The latest recovery raised the death toll to nine and reduced the number of missing people to 19. The FiloJet, a French-made catamaran registered in 2001, is lying at a depth of 550 metres with two Turkish navy vessels equipped with deep-diving drones examining the wreckage. On Tuesday, a specialist Turkish vessel, the TCG Isin equipped with an underwater drone capable of descending to depths up to 1,000 metres joined the rescue operation with a second, the TCG Alemdar, arriving on Wednesday.
“There were 20 people missing, and we have recovered the body of one of them,” TRNC Prime Minister Unal Ustel told reporters, adding that the victim was believed to be a man aged about 50. Speaking to reporters earlier in the day, he said authorities believed the missing individuals had been on board the vessel when it capsized. “Survey and search operations are continuing on a 24-hour basis and will continue without interruption,” he added.
Earlier, TRNC president Tufan Erhurman confirmed they had reached the ferry, which foundered several nautical miles from the port from which it had left for the Turkish mainland at around midday on Sunday.
